We don't seek the painful experiences that hew our identities, but we seek our identities in the wake of painful experiences.

Grief is depression in proportion to circumstance; depression is grief out of proportion to circumstance.

It is nearly impossible to hate anyone whose story you know.

The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and it was vitality that seemed to seep out of me.

We cannot bear a pointless torment, but we can endure great pain if we believe that it's purposeful.

A sense of humor is the best indicator that you will recover; it is often the best indicator that people will love you. Sustain that and you have hope.

I can see the beauty of glass objects fully at the moment when they slip from my hand

I believe that words are strong, that they can overwhelm what we fear when fear seems more awful than life is good.

Life is enriched by difficulty; love is made more acute when it requires exertion.

When you believe that you cannot stitch your own heart back together, go to work on the hearts of other people; there is no surer way to repair yourself than to repair them.

I tend to find the ecstasy hidden in ordinary joys, because I did not expect those joys to be ordinary to me.

I don't need shoes. I need a night scope. You think they sell night scopes someplace here?

Creativity is an integral part of existence and it emanates from the mind.

Focus all your meals around high-quality animal protein. You should eat a large variety, and plan your meals around which kind of protein you'll be eating.

A smile is a curve that can straighten out a lot of problems.

Climbing is what I do.

Street hockey is great for kids. It's energetic, competitive, and skilful. And best of all, it keeps them off the street.

We indeed did and do own our own minds and bodies, and anything from church or state that limits that is inappropriate and inconsistent with the ... society that America is supposed to be.

Do not taste food while you're cooking. You may lose your nerve to serve it.

If I weren't as tall as I am, I would've been a member of AC/DC.

I'll write about California someday, I imagine, but I don't know when.